


The Greatest of These

by tsiviaravina



Series: Faith, Hope, and Love [2]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angel Wings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Supernatural Elements, Trust Issues, Vulnerability, Vulnerable Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 06:36:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18338156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsiviaravina/pseuds/tsiviaravina
Summary: A sequel involving angst, feels, fluff, wings, and rings for those of you who wanted one.





	The Greatest of These

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FenarielTheDalishMage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FenarielTheDalishMage/gifts), [thepoisonofgod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepoisonofgod/gifts).



> A/N: For FenarielTheDalishMage and TwinkleTwinkleMorningstar, who asked.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! Lucifer (TV) belongs to Netflix. Suing me for copyright infringement would make me giggle.
> 
> The song used is "You're Still You", originally performed by Josh Groban.

He insists on making a fresh batch of chocolate chip pancakes when the three of them are done snuggling on the kitchen floor. 

When he thinks she can't see him, he follows Chloe with his eyes. Finally, when the pancakes are done, the coffee is made, and the table is set, they sit down and eat, their emotional journey from last night through this morning making all of them famished.

"So what is the best way to groom an angel wing?" Chloe asks afterwards, teasingly, her eyes twinkling at him from over her coffee mug. 

"A lot of steam, a gentle rain, patience, and time," he replies. "My bathroom is best equipped for it, so we can go back to my penthouse, if, in fact, it's still mine."

"It is. It needs a good dusting, but everything..." Chloe's voice hitches a bit. "Everything is the way you left it. So, you can move back in whenever you'd like." Her eyes lose their twinkle and her voice trails off into silence.

She gets up quickly, not wanting Trixie or Lucifer to see her tears, each for different reasons. But then Lucifer is there, standing in front of her. "I _wouldn't_ like to move back in—Chloe, you just said less than an hour ago that I was home, and I _am_  home. _You_ are my home. _Beatrice_ is my home. The fires of Hell would be preferable to going back to my self-imposed isolation. I was so lonely, living there." He cups her face in his hands and wipes away her tears with the pads of his thumbs.

"I'm not leaving, Chloe. The three of us could go over to my penthouse to groom my wings and then come home, tonight. Why would you think I would want to be _anywhere_ else?" He says the last sentence with a sense of desperation that makes her wrap her arms around him and cry silent tears into his pajama top.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'm so sorry. I just...I was afraid. I was afraid that I would lose you again."

"You're stuck with me. I promised that I would never leave again and I promise now, again, that I will never leave you or Beatrice." Beatrice, who at some point joined the embrace.

"Lucifer just wants clean wings, Mommy. He doesn't want to stay there without us," she says.

"I really don't. Not without...not without the people I love." His wings unfurl around them, carefully and gently this time, soothing the last of Chloe's tears away.

She bends to hug her daughter, and realizes she doesn't have to bend quite so far anymore, then brings Lucifer's head down so she can brush a kiss across his lips. 

"Let's clean up breakfast so we can go clean your wings," Chloe says, one arm around him and the other around Trixie.

"Ummm...Mom? I think you and Lucifer should do this together...just the two of you, I mean," Trixie says.

"Why, babe? What's wrong?" Chloe asks, concerned until she sees her daughter's blush.

"'Cause you guys need to talk about grownup stuff without me around. And we just finished a unit on birds in natural sciences and...helping each other groom is kind of mating behavior." Her eyes shift from Chloe to Lucifer. "I'll want to see your wings when they're all groomed and even more beautiful, but I think this should be something just for you and Mom, Lucifer. I can stay here and I'll do my homework while you're gone."

Chloe hugs her daughter close. "You are growing up so fast. And you are so perceptive and kind. But you'll always be my little monkey, you know that, right?" she tells Trixie. Trixie hugs her back and nods.

When they finally break apart, Lucifer opens his arms to Trixie, who almost strangles him in her enthusiasm.

\--

Chloe changes into a bathing suit and packs a dry change of clothes since she'll end up getting as soaked as he will if she's going to help him.

They drive to Lux in silence.

This early in the day, the club is still empty. Lucifer takes Chloe's hand when they go up to the penthouse.

She's trembling.

Once they leave the elevator, Lucifer can understand why Chloe would be hesitant about coming back to his apartment.

This must have been what she saw after he abandoned her the first time to run and lick his wounds in Las Vegas.

Dust and ghosts and shadows.

He turned to her.

"How did you not hate me when I ran away from you the first time?"

She shrugs, her bottom lip quivering, her eyes avoiding his. "Like I said...I tried. I couldn't."

"You're afraid I'm going to abandon you again."

She nods.

His arms and wings surround her again. "Never. _Never._ If I leave you, it will _never_ be of my own choosing."

He looks around. "What would make you feel...more secure right now, at this very moment?"

She looks up at him and smiles. "Play for me. Play something for me."

They both wrestle the dust cover off the piano with laughter that chases away the last of Chloe's tears. 

Lucifer's mood turns almost somber, however, when he places his hands on the keys. "I played this song over and over again in my mind when I would hear the chimes. I have never played nor sung this song for anyone else and I never will. Come and sit," he tells her and she perches beside him on the piano bench.

He takes a deep breath and begins:

 

 

> _Through the darkness_
> 
> _I can see your light_
> 
> _And you will always shine_
> 
> _And I can feel your heart in mine_
> 
> _Your face I've memorized_
> 
> _I idolize just you_  
> 
>  
> 
> _I look up to_
> 
> _Everything you are_
> 
> _In my eyes you do no wrong_
> 
> _I've loved you for so long_
> 
> _And after all is said and done_
> 
> _You're still you_
> 
> _After all_
> 
> _You're still you_

 

 

> _You walk past me_
> 
> _I can feel your pain_
> 
> _Time changes everything_
> 
> _One truth always stays the same_
> 
> _You're still you_
> 
> _After all_
> 
> _You're still you_

 

 

> _I look up to_
> 
> _Everything you are_
> 
> _In my eyes you do no wrong_
> 
> _And I believe in you_
> 
> _Although you never asked me to_
> 
> _I will remember you and all life put you through_
> 
> _And in this cruel and lonely world_
> 
> _I found one love_
> 
> _You're still you_
> 
> _After all_
> 
> _You're still you_

 

He can't look at her, until her hand comes to rest gently on his cheek, turning his face towards hers.

Their tears mingle when they kiss. It turns from soft and comforting to hard and passionate in the space of a heartbeat.

"Chloe," is the only thing Lucifer can gasp when they break apart.

"Lucifer," Chloe replies.

They make their way over to the bed, shedding clothing as they go. Lucifer gives an impatient yank and the dust cover flies off the bed. 

Neither of them care that the mattress is bare.

Each other. That's all that matters.

That's all that has ever mattered.

He tries to control himself, to go slow, but she doesn't want that, not now.

She just wants to feel him inside her, locked there by the pressure of her ankles and her thighs.

He wants nothing more than the delicious feel of free-fall in the safety of her arms.

After, sweaty and tangled together, Lucifer rests his head on Chloe's breast, his eyes closed, listening to her heartbeat gradually slow. Chloe runs her fingers through Lucifer's hair, pressing kisses to the top of his head. 

"I love you," he breathes across her skin. "I love you."

She runs her hands across his back, his scars and her fears finally gone. "I love you, too," she whispers.

They eventually get up and head to the enormous shower in Lucifer's bathroom. Chloe follows Lucifer's instructions and helps him prepare his shower to wash them as well as his wings.

He stretches them out with Chloe's help, one at a time, first into steam and then into the gentlest setting on the rainfall showerhead. She carefully and tenderly straightens and smooths the feathers on each wing, then turns off the shower and the steam. Chloe wraps her hair in a towel and herself in a robe while Lucifer wraps a towel around his hips. They go onto the balcony where there's enough room for his wings to dry.

Chloe combs her fingers through Lucifer's wing feathers, scratching gently where his wing joints meet his back. As they did the previous night, they dry incredibly fast. Once they go inside, Lucifer strips Chloe's robe from her shoulders and tugs the towel from her hair, wrapping her in his arms and his freshly groomed wings. 

She lets out a long, low moan when the feathers brush her bare skin. Her eyes flutter closed and she feels every bit of tension leave her body. She hears Lucifer's smug chuckle.

"This is so not fair," she murmurs, then feels herself being lifted and placed back on the bed. Lucifer's mouth is hot on her breast and his feathers are gossamer and warm night air against her skin. She runs her hands over and under his wings, gasping when he moans.

She feels desire and love tangle together as her hands move from smooth skin to downy softness and back again. Her legs fall open at the slightest pressure from his fingertips and she cries out when he finally tastes her.

Pleasure rushes through her, throbbing in time to her heartbeat. "Lucifer, please...I need..."

"It's all right, darling," he whispers, and guides himself inside her. 

And he realizes as he moves over and inside her that he _is_ home, _she_ is his home, and nothing will keep him from her ever again.

\--

The sun is setting as they return to what was once simply Chloe's home, but is now their home. Trixie smiles from her perch on the couch when she sees them making heart-eyes at each other—her mother looking happier than she's ever seen her.

"Pizza or Chinese?" Chloe asks.

"Chinese," Trixie requests. She looks at Lucifer a little shyly. "Lucifer, can I please see— _oh!"_ Her mouth falls open as he unfurls his wings with an audible snapping noise.

They are, and always will be, the most beautiful things that Beatrice Decker has ever seen.

White with the faintest hint of iridescence to the feathers that now lay straight and flat against one another. Trixie slips from the couch and walks over to one wing, her hands clasped tightly behind her back. She hears Lucifer's chuckle and looks at him.

"Go on, Beatrice. They won't bite."

She gently strokes the feathers. She can't even put into words how soft they are. "Mom told me you blocked bullets with your wings. Is that true?" she finds the courage to ask.

Lucifer kneels down to her height and beckons her over, gently wrapping reassuring arms around her. "Yes, Beatrice. I did, and I would do it again if you or your mother needed protection. Yes, it hurt and that was part, a very small part, of why I left. I still should have stayed."

Trixie has her arms wrapped around Lucifer and her head on his shoulder. He opens his other arm to Chloe, who joins the embrace, holding her lover and her daughter, feeling the strength of his wings enfold them. 

"Thank you for coming back, Lucifer," Trixie whispers, half-asleep already. 

"You are very welcome, small human," he replies, making Trixie giggle. "But I think we all need some food before we collapse into bed."

Chloe and Trixie agree and after a brief discussion, Lucifer places an order with his favorite restaurant for an astonishing amount of food worth an astonishing amount of money. (He insists on paying.) In a surprisingly short amount of time, there's a knock on the front door and Lucifer, _sans_ wings, has a brief conversation (Mandarin or Cantonese, Chloe couldn't tell you which) with the delivery person, and comes back laden down with bags of food that smell amazing.

Between the three of them (and Lucifer's enormous appetite), they manage to finish most of the food. As they're cleaning up and putting away the leftovers, Trixie asks, "Mom, where are we going to put the piano?"

Chloe looks a little baffled, then smiles. "You mean for Lucifer?"

"Well, yeah. If you're going to live here, you need a piano," Trixie says to a bemused Lucifer. "Being able to play is important to you."

"She's right," Chloe grins. "It might have to be a smaller upright, but we can certainly look into getting you one."

"You would do that...for me?" he asks, a little stunned.

"Lucifer, you're family and your music is part of who you are. Or at least that's what Mom says. I haven't heard you play yet," Trixie adds.

He's red from his neck to his forehead when Chloe slips her arms around him from behind. "We love you, and we want you to be happy. You're going to have to get used to it one way or another," she says, her head resting on his back.

"I would enjoy being able to play...and not just for me. And I can teach you and your mother how to play something other than _Heart and Soul,"_ he tells Trixie, who giggles. He hears Chloe snort behind him. 

Chloe looks at the clock. "Okay. Bedtime, Trix. Go get ready. You get _one_ chapter of Harry Potter." She kisses her daughter's head and nudges her towards her room.

Chloe slips her arms around Lucifer's neck and rests her head on his chest as his arms wrap around her tightly to hold her close. "Thank you," he murmurs into her hair. "Thank you for...for...loving me enough to keep me even though I was an enormous arse. I love you, Chloe," he finishes in a whisper.

"I love you, too," Chloe tells him, looking up at him when she says it.

His smile and toe-curling kiss is worth it. 

"So," Chloe says when she gets her breath (and her brain) back, "Did you want to look at piano possibilities tomorrow?"

"Actually," he says, running his fingers through her hair, "I was hoping that the three of us could go to a certain small store tomorrow first."

"It's Sunday and I have no active cases, so, sure. We can do whatever you want," Chloe tells him. She rolls her eyes and blushes when he chuckles and bends to nuzzle her neck. "Where did you want to go?" she asks him, breathlessly.

It's Lucifer's turn to blush. "I want to go to the store of the person who made the chimes. I need something special made for the three of us, and I think he or she is the person who can do it."

"Something special?"

"Let it be a surprise," he says before kissing her silent.

They break apart when they hear Trixie clear her throat and giggle.

"What book of _Harry Potter_ are you on, Decker-spawn?" Lucifer asks, not perturbed in the least.

" _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ ," she answers. "Tonight is Chapter Five."

"Let's tuck you in and I'll read Chapter Five to you."

Trixie grins. "Thanks, Lucifer!"

Chloe does the actual "tucking in" while Lucifer brings two chairs into Trixie's room, settling them next to Trixie's bed. Lucifer takes the book off of Trixie's nightstand and settles himself in one of the chairs, waiting for Chloe to sit next to him before beginning to read:

_"Chapter Five. The Dementors. Tom woke Harry the next morning with his usual toothless grin and a cup of tea. Harry got dressed and was just persuading a disgruntled Hedwig to get back in her cage when Ron banged his way into the room, pulling a sweatshirt over his head and looking irritable..."_

\--

The three of them stand outside the tiny store, Lucifer holding on to both Chloe's and Trixie's hands. 

"We don't have to do this right away," Chloe tells him. "We can come back another time."

"No," Lucifer says firmly. "I need to do this. For—for the three of us."

They walk into the store and the same woman who crafted the chimes for Chloe looks up at them as they enter the store. Her ageless gaze falls on Chloe, on Trixie, and finally on Lucifer. 

"So," the woman says. "You came home."

Lucifer looks back at her, meeting her gaze steadily. "I did."

The woman smiles. "Good. Hiding doesn't suit you."

Lucifer's cheeks flush red for a moment, and then he regains his composure. "I need three rings made. Can you do it?" he asks the woman, leaving Chloe looking stunned and Trixie looking confused. 

The woman looks at him for a moment. Then she nods her head and says, "Yes. I can make the rings. What do you want in them?" she asks him.

Lucifer takes a small envelope from his pocket. "These," he says, passing the envelope to the woman.

She opens the envelope and smiles. "You're here to stay, then. Good."

Chloe and Trixie both look up at Lucifer, confused. 

He smiles down at them. "You'll understand when the rings are finished."

The woman beckons them further into the store. "Come. I need to size all three of you and there are decisions you must make."

\--

Days pass, flowing into one another. Lucifer fits himself seamlessly into their lives as if he's been the one thing they've been missing this whole time. Chloe glows and Trixie loses her haunted look. They fall into a pattern that suits the three of them in its normalcy. They have breakfast together every morning. Chloe heads to the station while Lucifer brings Trixie (who now carries healthy lunches and completed homework assignments in her backpack) to school before he joins Chloe at the station to help with paperwork or the latest case. He picks up Trixie in the afternoons and helps with homework and piano practice while prepping for dinner.

Chloe doesn't bring much paperwork home with her anymore—her evenings are filled with her daughter and her lover and movie nights, reading Harry Potter together, and date nights that Trixie insists they go on for "grownup time", which usually means the two of them picking up take-out and heading to Lucifer's penthouse for dinner and louder, more athletic lovemaking than they can usually indulge in at "home".

Lucifer's piano playing is now the soundtrack for their very wondrously full life.

Before Chloe realizes it, almost three weeks pass.

And a package is waiting for Lucifer one afternoon when he comes home with Trixie.

He smiles when he sees the return address.

Trixie's smart enough now to only ask once about the package. He reassures her with, "You'll know everything once your mother gets home." She's old enough now to be satisfied with that and gets started on her homework.

When Chloe gets home, she can hear her daughter and Lucifer working on a tricky piece of music that Trixie is determined to conquer. It sounds like she's getting the hang of it, actually. 

However, the music stops when she enters the house and kicks off her shoes. Her call of "I'm home!" results in a "family hug" with everyone wrapped together in arms and wings. "I missed you guys," she laughs when they both try to launch into tales of their day at the same time.

"Lucifer, what about the package," Trixie finally demands, her ten year-old curiosity bursting forth again.

Lucifer laughs and goes to get the package from where he placed it in the hall closet—on the tallest shelf that only he can reach.

He opens it carefully, and both Chloe and Trixie have a sense of deja vu as Lucifer unfolds sheets of tissue paper—blinding white, sky blue, sunset lavender, sunrise pink, seafoam green—until he reaches three white velvet jeweler's boxes. He examines the bottom of each one and picks one from the three. 

He kneels in front of Chloe, making her gasp and Trixie squeal in delight.

"You have told me, on several occasions that I make you a better detective. You, however, have made me a better...man. Though I cannot offer you marriage in the traditional sense, I would offer this ring to you as a promise to love you, and to always stay by your side, and have your back, as the case may be." 

Chloe simply nods, a hand clasped over her mouth and tears streaming down her face. Lucifer opens the box and, shaking a little, places what at first looks like a simple silver band on the ring finger of her left hand. He rises slowly and extends a wing. Chloe looks again at the ring and realizes what it is. "It's a...feather?" she whispers.

Lucifer nods. "Yes. One of mine, sealed in sterling silver. I love you with everything that is in me. I wanted to give you something that you can look at and know that."

Chloe wipes the tears from her face with her left hand before reaching up to kiss him. "I love you," she says when they break apart. "So very much, Lucifer."

"Can I see, Mommy?" Trixie asks softly, not wanting to disturb them.

"Of course, baby," Chloe replies, beckoning her daughter over to look. It is a feather—one of the smaller ones, somehow smooth where it touches skin, but turned just right to catch the light at the top. It's silver, but seems to glow brightly with an incandescence that isn't found in regular earth-bound metals.

Lucifer clears his throat and Trixie looks up to see Lucifer holding out another of the white velvet jewelry boxes to her. She looks from the box to him and whispers, "Me, too?"

Lucifer kneels next to her and nods. "I know you already have a father whom you will always love, and that is how it should be. But you are part of my life with your mother and I look to you as the daughter I would have wanted to have if it were possible. I would offer this ring to you as a promise to always love you, to always listen, and to always stay."

Trixie takes the box from him, slides the ring on her own finger and then dives into his arms for a hug.

Lucifer holds on to her just as tightly.

Chloe kneels down with them, dropping kisses on their heads as she does. She holds the last white velvet box out to Lucifer. "Now you," she says, running a hand through his hair. He opens the box and shows them the slightly larger ring, engraved on the inside with "Chloe & Beatrice" and the date when he arrived "like a bedraggled duck on their doorstep", he says, laughing through his tears.

He hands the ring to Chloe who slips it on his left hand ring finger. Chloe worries when he doesn't say anything until she sees the tears coming down his face and dripping off his chin. She has him sit down before he falls down and holds him as he cries tears that Chloe knows have been held inside him for  _literally_ millennia. Trixie runs off and comes back with a stack of clean handkerchiefs that she puts in Lucifer's lap. He laughs, mops himself up, and holds them close with both angelic strength and wings.

"We should go celebrate," Chloe says.

"Can we go to Junior's?" Trixie asks.

"I think that is a marvelous idea, Beatrice. Go get washed and dressed so I can kiss your mother the way I want to without her blushing," Lucifer answers, chuckling when Chloe smacks his chest. Trixie giggles, but gets up and goes to wash up.

He manages to kiss Chloe in the way that makes her blush even when it's just the two of them before chasing her to their bedroom so they can make themselves presentable for an evening out.

\--

Much, much later, after a great deal of Junior's wonderful cuisine, Lucifer escorts his Chloe and an exhausted Beatrice into the house. Chloe goes to tuck Beatrice in bed and Lucifer tucks the containers of leftovers in the refrigerator, happy that he and Chloe ordered enough for a "midnight snack"; Chloe always demands food after they make love.

Lucifer stops in Beatrice's room, giving her a kiss on the forehead and a promise of two chapters of _Harry Potter_ tomorrow night. He changes into pajama bottoms and stretches out on the bed, letting himself relax. 

He contemplates his left hand—he never believed he would ever have the equivalent of a wedding band on his ring finger, or that he would even want one. But he has what he didn't know he wanted in the first place: home, love, family. (Beatrice is learning _Journey to the Past_ from _Anastasia_  and the lyrics are beginning to stick in his head.)

Chloe comes into the bedroom and locks the door before kicking off her shoes and removing clothing. She doesn't even bother with a nightshirt, which makes him grin when she drapes herself over him.

"I'm glad you decided to come home," she murmurs to him, running the tips of her fingers over the planes of his face. When she reaches his mouth, he gently takes her palm and kisses it.

"Thank you for calling me home," he replies, running his other hand down her back.

"Mmmm..." she closes her eyes and hums as he strokes her back. "Trixie apparently called Dan earlier while we were getting ready," she tells Lucifer, who raises an eyebrow. "Don't worry. Without revealing too much, she asked if she could spend some time with him this weekend, and he, of course, said yes. She told me we should have a honeymoon, even if it's a short one. So Dan will pick her up Friday afternoon from school and drop her at school Monday morning. She told me that she expects you to 'whisk me away' to the penthouse for some 'serious romance'," Chloe finishes reciting, unable to hold back her giggles at how high Lucifer's eyebrows have traveled on his face.

"'Serious romance'? Has she been pulling reading material from your Harlequin stash?" he laughs.

"The Harlequins are my mother's, thank you. Mine are all 'bodice-rippers' that Trixie knows she's not allowed to go near yet. I blame the Hallmark Channel for her insistence on us having 'date nights' and 'serious romance'," Chloe replies. 

"'Serious romance' it is, then. Do I buy your lingerie for the weekend or do you?"

"I thought _I'd_ surprise _you_ for a change. I'll bring Ella with me; she'll be ecstatic over this new development. I _have_ to tell her; she'll notice the ring and ask questions tomorrow morning before you've brought us coffee. You know I'm right," Chloe said, poking him gently in the chest.

"Well, it is her job to be observant, although at times I wish she could confine it to her specimens and slides," Lucifer grumbles in mock irritation.

"You missed her too—admit it."

"Yes, I admit it. I missed the nasty little nerd."

_"Lucifer!"_

"Very well—I missed Miss Lopez in the small portion of time that was not devoted to missing you."

Chloe rests her head on his chest. "I missed you too. All the time." Her voice goes husky with unshed tears and she suddenly finds herself wrapped up in Lucifer's arms and wings.

"No tears—no _sad_ tears on our 'wedding night', love," he amends, watching as she relaxes and smiles at the sensations of his hands and his wings on her skin. "You are only allowed tears of joy or when you are overwhelmed with passion," he teases, murmuring the words into her skin.

She gasps when he rolls them over, her eyes closing as Lucifer's wings enfold her. "This is always so not fair," Chloe mumbles against his mouth.

"Indulge me and let me worship you tonight and you can call the shots on our 'honeymoon'," he bargains while he watches her body arch into the gentle motion of his hands between her thighs.

She nods, nuzzling his neck and stroking a wing, biting her lower lip to keep from moaning aloud. "You win," she smiles.

"As I once said, it _would_ be a win-win and probably another win after that what with my tremendous stamina and all," he purrs into her ear.

Chloe's careful not to hit him _too_ hard in the head with the pillow she grabs.

She wants that extra win, after all.

 


End file.
